News - theworldlink.com - Serving the Great South Coast of Oregon: "Page Updated: Saturday, June 26, 2004 10:00 AM PDT
Supreme Court decision throws sentencing guidelines into question
By Anne Gearan, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors postponed Friday's sentencing of an anti-abortion activist once on the FBI's most wanted list, a reaction to an unexpected Supreme Court ruling that called into legal doubt sentencing practices used around the country.
Prosecutors in Philadelphia decided to ask a judge to put off sentencing Clayton Lee Waagner because it was unclear whether or how Thursday's ruling from the high court might affect that case and others.
'Everybody is trying to sort out the meaning of the decision,' said Timothy Rice, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia.
The Supreme Court ruled that only juries, not judges, may lengthen prison terms beyond the maximum set out in state sentencing guidelines. The ruling was surprising for its sweep and for the dire predictions it produced from dissenting justices."
